Golf tee



ugl, 1935. K. sElKl GOLF TEE FiledApril 17, 1954 Il 4 M UNITED STATES l PATENT ori-ica GOLF TEE Kazuo Seiki, Setagaya-Ku, Tokyo, Japan, assignor of one-half to The Nippon Trading Company, Tokyo, Japan Application April 17, 1934, Serial No. 721,021

In Japan July. 28, 1933 vz claims. (ci. zia- 33)v My invention relates to a golf tee comprising a conical hollow member made of paper, card.

board, iiber or other similar materials of light weight and a plug made of wood, celluloid, metal or other hard materials, and in case of golf playing, said plug is inserted into the hollow member, then the hollow member is driven into the ground by pushing said plug and then the plug only is withdrawn from the hollow member in such a manner that the conical hollow member is left in the ground. Thus in my invention, one plug is repeatedly used for many hollow members.

In my invention, the hollow member is provided with three or more slits on its upper edge portion and the plug has an enlarged head.` Thus when the plug is inserted into the hollow member, the

edge portion of the hollow member is opened outwardly by widening the slits so that the ball may be supported stably upon the upperend of the hollow member.

In one embodiment of my invention, the tip portion of the conical hollow member is out off so that the lowerhend of the plug is projected from the lower opening of the hollow member.

In another embodiment, thetip end of the conical hollow member is hardened by packing with paper, fiber, wood or other similar materials and the lower portion of the plug is cut off in such a manner that the lower end of the plug contacts 0 with the upper surface of the packing material in the hollow member.

And in another modification, the plug is constructed with an upper portion and a lower portion. Said upper portion has a hole in its centre and the lower portion has an upwardly projected pin which is inserted into the hole of the upper portion. And between said two portions, a spiral spring is inserted, thus when the upper portion is pushed into the hollow member, said portion contacts against the spring and the outer surfaces of the two portions contact with the inner wall of the hollow member in such a manner that said member is pressed into the ground.

And when the hand is set free from the head of the upper portion, said portion isv moved upwardly by the spring action so that the outer surface of the upper portion is separated'from the inner wall of the hollow member, therefore the plug can be easily withdrawn from the hollow member;

The main object of my invention is to provide a golf tee which may be manufactured at a very low expense and in which the resistance to the club in case of striking is very small so that damage to the club is prevented.

vconform with the hollow member.

' open upper end The' other object of my invention is to provide a golf tee which is light in its weight so that many of them may be packed in a small container, therefore they may be handy to carry.

My invention will be better understood from the following description when considered in connection with the accompanying drawing and its scopel will be pointed out in the appended claims.

Fig. 1 shows a hollow member of the golf tee according to one embodiment of my invention.

Fig. 2 shows a. longitudinal section of the whole golf tee.

Fig. 3 shows a side view of the plug only.

Figs. 4, 5, and 6 show the hollow member, golf tee and the plug respectively according to another embodiment of my invention.

Fig. 7 shows a modification of the hollow member.

Figs. 8 and 9 are illustrations of another embodiment represented in cross-section.

Fig. 10 is a modification of the devices shown in Figs. 8 and 9.

Referring to the numerals on the drawing, l is a hollow member made of paper, cardboard, iiber or other similar materials and in the ernbodiment as shown in Figs. l, 2, the tapered lower portion is cut off, therefore both ends of this hollow member are open. The upper edge of the hollow member has three/,or more slits 2 perforated in parallel to each other longitudinally. 3 is a plug made of metal, wood, celluloid or other hard materials and thevhead 4 of this plug is enlarged and its shank portion is tapered downwardly to In case of thrusting 'the golf tee into the ground, the plug 3 is previously inserted into the hollow member I, then this hollow member and plug are driven into' the ground by pushing the head 4 of the plug. In this case, the upper edge of the hollow member is spread outwardly by opening the slits 2 due to the insertion of the head of the plug 3.

Then the plug 3 only is withdrawn from the hollow member, therefore said member is left in the ground. Thus the ball 5 can rest stably on the of the hollow member.

In the modification as shown in Figs. 4, 5 and 6, the tapered lower end 6 of the hollow member is hardened by filling with paper, fiber, wood, ce1- luloid or other packing material. And the tip end of the plug is cut off as shown in Fig. 6 and in this case the plug 1 is inserted into the hollow member I, the lower end of the plug contacts with\ the upper surface 8 of the packing material 6, therefore the hollow member is pressed into the ground by pushing the plug. In this case, the upper edge portion of the hollow meinber is opened by the head 9 of the plug 1 in the same manner as above described.

'In the modification as shown in Fig. 7, the upper edge I of the hollow member is not provided with the slits and said upper portion is opened to conform with the head 6 of the plug. In the niodication as shown in Figs. 8 and 9, the plug is constructed with an upper portion II and a lower portion I2. The upper portion has a hole I3 perforated in its centre and the lower portion has an upwardly projecting pin Id which is inserted into the hole I3 of the upper portion. Between the bottom of the hole I3 and the upper end of the pin I4, a spiral spring I is arranged in the hole I3. In case of golf playing, the plug II, 'I2 is first inserted into the hollow member I and then this hollow member is driven into the ground by pushing the head of the plug. In this case, the lower end of the upper portion II of the plug is pressed onthe upper surface of the lower portion I2 against the spring I5 and the outer surface of the upper' portion contacts with the inner wall of the hollow member I as shown in Fig. 8, thus said hollow member is easily driven into the ground. When detached from theplug, the upper portion II is moved upwardly by the springI action as shown in Fig. 9 so that the outer surface of the upper portion is separated from the inner wall of the hollow member I and thus the plug only may be easily withdrawn from the hollow member which is left in the ground.

In the modification as shown in Fig. 10, the spiral spring I5 is surrounded on the pin I4 in the hole I3 and its. upper end is xed on the ange I6 which is projected in the hole.

As the golf tee according to my invention is constructed as above described, in case of striking the ball supported on the hollow member by the club, the resistance to said club from the hollow member is practically negligible due to the hollow member being made of paper, ber or other materials, therefore the striking is comfortable and the striking power is not lessened and the damage to the club is prevented. Moreover, the manufacturing expense is small, therefore after the playing, the hollow member can lbe thrown away, and if the hollow member may be lost, it can be abandoned so that the trouble and spared time for searching the golf tee is not required. And the hollow member has an advantage that it is light in its weight being the product of paper, ber or other similar materials as above described whereby many hollow members can be packed compactly in a small container so that they may be handy to carry.

I have explained my invention by illustrating and describing certain specific embodiments thereof but vit will be readily understood by those skilled in the art that the arrangements of these embodiments may be modified in certain of their details. I accordingly do not wish to be restricted to the particular construction disclosed herein by way of illustration for the purpose of settingforth my invention in accordance with the patent statutes, the terms of the appended claims are therefore intended to cover all changes and modications Within the true spirit and scope of my invention. y

What I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States is:

l. A golf tee comprising a conical hollow member of light weight'and a plug which is formed and adapted to be inserted into said hollow member, the lower end of the conical hollow member being fllledwith packing materials, and the tip end of the plug cut oi to fit with the hollow member.

2. A golf tee comprising a conical hollow member of light weight and a plug which is formed and adapted to be insertedinto said hollow member, the plug being constructed with upper and lower portions, said upper portion having a hole in its centre and said lower portion having an upwardly projected pin which is inserted into the hole of the upper portion and between these portions, a spring is arranged.

KAzUo sEIKI. 

